Air conditioning system



Dec. 2, 1952 B, KNEPPER 2,619,894-

' AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Filed June 6. 1949 a Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor 2, 1952 B. KNEIQPER 2,619,894

AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Filed June 6, 1949 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Bonnie Kngpper B, Mm

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Patented Dec. 2, 1952 AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Bonnie Knepper, De Witt, Iowa Application June 6, 1949, Serial No. 97,413

2 Claims. (01. 98 -993) This invention appertains to an air conditioning unit for buildings, and more particularly to a unit adapted for attachment to the wall or window opening of a building.

The primary object of this invention is to control the movement of air currents passing therethrough from the outside to th inside of a building and to filter and purify the air currents before permitting them to pass into the interior of the building.

Another object of this invention is to reduce the air passing inwardly to the same temperature as the air inside the building and, at the same time, to filter and purify the air.

Another object of this invention is to simplify the attachment of an air conditioning unit, having the above objects, in an opening in a building, such as-a Windo l opening or opening especially formed therefor in the wall of the building.

A meritorious feature of this inventionresides in th provision of controlled shutters disposed in the inlet opening of the unit, the shutters being actuated by a time-responsive and operated actu-. ating mechanism so as to periodically and sequentially permit controlled amounts of air to pass therethrough.

Another meritorious feature of this invention resides in the provision of a filter unit and contoured channels through which the air must pass in reaching the inner outlet end of the unit, the air, in its passage, being heated and purified by an ultra violet or infra red tube, so that the air is delivered into the interior of the building or living area at the same temperature as theair therein, thereby creating a thorough mixture of the air for economical and healthier living conditions.

These and ancillary objects and additional features are attained by this invention, a preferred embodiment of which is set forth in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View of the air conditioning unit, illustrating the same in operative attachment within a conventional window structure;

FigureZ is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Figure, l and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail view taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 3. 7

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the air conditioning unit, generally desig- 2 nated by the character reference [0, includes a casing l2 which may be formed from suitable sheet material. The casing includes an inlet opening l4 and an outlet opening It, the openings being offset from each other and being communicated by a connecting passageway H3.

The casing is designed to be placed within an opening in a building, with the inlet end I4 disposed on the. exterior of the building and the outlet end 16 positioned within the building. The casing is illustrated as positioned within a window opening but an opening may be especially formed in the building to accommodate the casing, if desired.

In positioning the casing within the window opening, the casing is seated on the sill 29 with a weather stripping 22 interposed between the bottom of the inlet end of the casing and the sill. The outlet end of the casing seats on the inner sill 24 providing the shoulder 2| in the bottom of easing I2 between the sill 20 and the inner sill 24. The sash 26 of the lower window 28 is lowered until it rests on the top of the inlet end of the casing and a weather strip 36 is secured between the lower end of the sash and the casing. A pair of brackets 32 are secured on the opposing side of the casing and are formed at their upper ends with vertical slots 34. Angular fingers 36 are adjustably disposed in the slots by fastening means 38 and are formed at their lateral extremities with depending prongs 49 adapted to engage in the wood of the sash.

Means is provided for admitting controlled amounts of air through the inlet opening into the passageway I8 and includes a plurality of louvers 42 disposed at the inlet opening and adapted to be periodically opened. The inlet louver unit' 42 includes a plurality of fixed slats 44 which are formed at their outer ends with inturned U- shaped bearing members 46. The slats are integrally secured at their opposing sides to the opposite sides of the casing at the inlet opening. The slats 44 are vertically spaced in parallelism and are inclined upwardly and rearwardly, the slats terminating in upturned ends 48. A pair of operating bars are positioned on the opposing sides of the casing and are formed with ofiset slotted upper and lower ends 52 and 54. Lugs 55 and 58-extend laterally from the wall of the casing and are slidably disposed in the slots in the ends. A plurality of complementary movable slats 66 have their outer ends 62 oscillatably journaled in the U-shaped bearing ends 46 of the fixed slats. The movable slats are formed adjacent their inner ends with v-shaped depressions 64, which are adapted to seat against the upturned ends 48 of the fixed slats. The movable slats terminate at their inner ends in a concaved extremity 99 adapted to seat on transverse rods 68 carried by the opposing operating bars 59. Thus, the louver unit, when closed, is in the position as illustrated in Figure 1, with the V-shaped depression 64 of the movable slats pressing against the upturned ends 48 of the fixed slats. When the operating bars are raised, the movable slats are moved upwardly by the transverse rods 58 bearing against the concaved ends 66 of the movable slats and the movable slats are raised into the position illustrated in Figure 4, the movable slats bearing against the under side of the fixed slats. It is to be noted that the upper movable slat is journaled in the inturned upper end I9 of the top of the casing while the bottom of the casing terminates in an upturned end I2 against which the V-shaped depression of the lower movable slat is adapted to seat, so that when the slats are in a closed position, the inlet opening is entirely closed oh and no air is allowed to enter therethrough and pass into the passageway.

Means is provided for periodically actuating or raising the operating bars 59 so as to open the unit by raising the movable slats.

In this respect, a pair of pulleys 14 are journaled for rotation on the opposing sides of the casing and a similar pair I6 are rotatably journaled on the opposing sides of the casing in the same horizontal plane, the pulley I6 being spaced inwardly and downwardly from the pulleys I4. A pair of crank arms 89 are pivoted, as at B2, to brackets 94 secured on the opposing sides of the casing. A flexible operating member 88 is secured at one end to the crank and is trained over the pulley, the opposing ends of the member bein secured, as at 99, to the lower extremities of the actuating bars.

A conventional electric motor and timer device (Patents 1,935,208; 1,996,375; 2,049,261; 1,977,184; 1,977,185; 1,977,186; 2,353,305) 92 is mounted in the passageway I8 and an actuating arm 94 is controlled thereby and is secured to the crank arm, with a weight 96 depending from the pivoted juncture. Thus, reciprocatory movement of the arm 94 is translated by the crank arm and pulley with the flexible operating member into opening and closing movement of the movable slats.

A screen or filter unit 98 is seated within the casing between the passageway and the inlet opening, the screen unit being seated at its lower end in a U-shaped seat I 09 supported by a bracket I02 which is secured, as at I94, to the casing. The upper end of the unit bears against a shoulder I96 depending from a plate I98 which is secured to the upper end of the casing. The filter screen unit 98 can thus easil be removed, since it is held in at its upper end by the catch I98 having the protuberance I I9 bearing against the outer edge of the unit, while the inner edge seats against the shoulder I96.

A plurality of vertically spaced bafiles [I2 are secured at their opposing ends to the opposing sides of the casing, the opposing ends of the baflles being formed with upstanding perforated ears H4 bolted or otherwise afiixed, as at H6, to the casing sides. The bafiies extend upwardly and inwardly from the screen unit and are directed at their inner ends relative to the outlet opening I9 which is offset from the passageway I8 wherein the bafiies are disposed and from the inlet opening. It is to be noted that the passageway I8 is longitudinally aligned with the inlet opening, whereas the outlet opening is offset from the longitudinal axes of the casing defining the passageway and inlet opening. The upper baffle I I8 of the set I I2 terminates in a concave-convex end I20 which has a lateral extension I22 secured, as at I24, to the top of the casing adjacent the outlet I6. The lower bafiles in the set have similar but smaller concavo-convex ends I26 which are vertically spaced from each other. The under sides of the extensions I26 of the baflies are chrome finished so as to function as reflectors, for a purpose to be described.

A plurality of fixed slats I28 are disposed in a horizontal plane at the outlet opening and are formed in vertical alignment, the slats being spaced vertically from each other along the length of the outlet opening. Interposed between the adjacent slats are bafile plates I30 which are formed with concavo-convex extensions I32, the extensions having their under sides formed as reflector surfaces. A bafile plate I34 extends between the lowest adjacent slats I28 and is formed with a downwardly extending extension plate I36 formed of a series of concavo-convex plates. An ultra violet ray tube or infra red tube I38 is detachably mounted in front of a porcelain receptacle in front of a chrome finished insulated reflector I40, which is carried by supporting members I42 extending vertically from the bottom of the casing. The tube is disposed in the passageway and the rays of the tube are adapted to impinge agains the reflectors, which ahe formed on the ends of the bafiles, as above described. The air is heated and purified by the tube, the air being increased to the temperature of the air on the interior of the building so that as the air passes through the baflled passageway, it is heated and is passed through the inlet opening into the interior of the building at the same temperature as the air already in the building.

An electrical conductor I43 extends through the sleeve I44 from the bottom of the casing and supplies the electrical energy for the tube and the electric motor and timer unit 92.

In operation, the timer can be set for one-half or one hour operation at two to ten-minute duration, so that the movable slats are open at predetermined periods and are retained in an open position for a predetermined period. The timer controls the operation of the motor for opening and closing the movable slats and also controls the operation of the tube, so that the tube is only in operation when the air is allowed to pass through the passageway by the open slats.

It is to be especially noted that the air currents entering through the inlet opening will follow a diagonal directional path through the vertically spaced baffies and will pass through the heated zone, coming in contact with the rays from the tube, then be directed through the open fins at the outlet opening.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. An air conditioning unit comprising a casing having an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening, said outlet opening being above the inlet opening, said casing having an inclined passage connecting the openings, vertically spaced baflies in said passage, radiant warming and germicidal means mounted in said casing for conditioning the air in said casing, said warming and germicidal means including an ultra violet radiator in the passage, reflectors carried by the baflles and disposed directly to the radiations of the radiator to reflect the radiations across the passage, movable slats mounted in said air inlet opening for controlling the passage of air therethrough, a timing unit, actuating means operatively connecting said timing unit in controlling relation to said slats, said timing unit periodically moving said slats for opening and closing said air inlet opening for predetermined time intervals.

2. An air conditioning unit comprising a casing having "an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening, said outlet opening being above the inlet opening, said casing having an inclined passage connecting the openings, vertically spaced baffles in said passage, radiant warming and germicidal means mounted in said casing for conditioning the air in said casing, said warming and germicidal means including an ultra violet radiator in the passage, reflectors carried by the bafiles and disposed directly to the radiations of the radiator to reflect the radiations across the passage, and further vertically spaced bafiles in the outlet opening that are spaced from the first mentioned baffies, further reflectors carried by said further baiiles that are directly exposed to radiation, from the ultra violet radiator, passing between the first mentioned baflies and the further bafiles, movable slats mounted in said air inlet opening for controlling .the passage of air therethrough, a timing unit, actuating means operatively connecting said timing unit in controlling relation to said slats, said timing unit periodically moving said slats for opening and closing said air inlet opening for predetermied time intervals.

BONNIE KNEPPER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Tucker July 15, 1884 Hayes July 20, 1886 Booraem Aug. 15, 1911 Goldberg Jan. 9, 1912 Schueler Feb. 27, 1917 McQueen Dec. 16, 1919 Sheppard Feb. 10, 1925 Breidert Aug. 11, 1925 Bourne May 30, 1933 Sargent July 4, 1933 Shurtlefi" Nov. 28, 1933 Redd Feb. 20, 1934 Frank May 1, 1934 Johnson May 8, 1934 Sargent Nov. 19, 1935 Payne June 16, 1936 Feinberg May 16, 1939 Groven Jan. 9, 1940 Fair et a1 Apr. 30, 1940 Andersen July 16, 1940 Crise et al Feb. 4, 1941 Andeson Mar. 4, 1941 Moore Mar. 11, 1941 Bules Nov. 24, 1942 Wolfert Nov. 30, 1943 Carver Nov. 7, 1944 Davies Dec. 14, 1948 Crise Apr. 4, 1950 Maccalum July 17, 1951 

